Young People Are Not As Happy As They Used to Be, Study Finds

Mind|A Global Flourishing Study Finds That Young Adults, Well, Aren’t

The happiness curve is collapsing.

For decades, research showed that the way people experienced happiness across their lifetimes looked like a U-shaped curve. Happiness tended to be high when they were young, then dipped in midlife, only to rise again as they grew old.

But recent surveys suggest that young adults aren’t as happy as they used to be, and that U-shaped curve is starting to flatten.

This pattern has shown up yet again in a new study, one of a collection of papers published on Wednesday in the journal Nature Mental Health. They are the first publications based on the inaugural wave of data from the Global Flourishing Study, a collaboration between researchers at Harvard and Baylor University.

The data, collected by Gallup primarily in 2023, was derived from self-reported surveys of more than 200,000 people in over 20 countries. It found that, on average, young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 were struggling — not only with happiness, but also with their physical and mental health, their perceptions of their own character, finding meaning in life, the quality of their relationships and their financial security. The researchers combined these measures to determine the degree that each participant was “flourishing,” or living in a state where all aspects of life were good.

The study participants had relatively low measures of flourishing on average until age 50, the study found. This was the case in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, Brazil and Australia. But the difference between the younger and older adults was largest in the United States, the researchers said.

“It is a pretty stark picture,” said Tyler J. VanderWeele, the lead author of the study and director of Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program. The findings raise an important question, he said: “Are we sufficiently investing in the well-being of youth?”